TROMBONE UNIT HANNOVER

was formed on the occasion of the 2008 German Music Competition and consists of nine young trombonists who studied at the
Hanover University of Music, Drama, and Media. The ensemble members play in
such leading German orchestras as the Bamberger Symphoniker, Deutsche Radio
Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Symphoniker Hamburg, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Staatsoper Hannover, and SWR Symphonieorchester.

The artists’ biographies also include awards at national and international competitions, such as the ARD International Music Competition, Conn-Lindberg Competition, International Instrumental Competition Markneukirchen, Aeolus International Competition for Wind Instruments, Prague Spring Competition, Ernest Bloch Music Competition, and International Trombone Association Competition.

Jonas Bylund, the musicians’ long-time and current mentor, places particular emphasis on ensemble playing in chamber music formations. Whether as a quartet, sextet, or octet, the musicians have all drawn on Bylund’s wealth of experience far beyond the classroom. The founding of Trombone Unit Hannover can thus be seen as the logical consequence of many years of chamber music work at the university. The members’ love of music and mutual friendship played a decisive role in the creation of the ensemble, which appeared before
the public for the first time at the 2008 German Music Competition. For their outstanding achievement in this competition, they received a scholarship from the German Music Council and have since performed at Germany’s National Concert of Young Musicians. In 2011 the ensemble participated once again in the German Music Competition, where it won over the jury and emerged as the first-ever trombone ensemble to win the competition in its thirty-six-year history.

Since its founding, Trombone Unit Hannover has performed concerts in Germany and abroad, with engagements at such major festivals as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Kissinger Winterzauber,
Deutschlandradio’s Raderberg Concerts in Cologne, the Musik.Zeit.Geschehen series at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin, and the Festival of the International Trombone Association in Århus, Denmark. In December 2011 they made a guest appearance at the Virtuosi Festival in Recife, Brazil, where they gave three highly-acclaimed concerts, including one with trombone legend Christian Lindberg. The ensemble’s first Asian tour followed in autumn 2017.

The trombone still receives little attention outside the orchestra, but with their love of music, artistic expression, professional dedication, and not least their authenticity, the nine ensemble members are well on their way to bringing the trombone as a chamber music instrument more into the focus of public attention. As a testament to this intention, they have
already performed commissioned works by Daniel Schnyder, Jan Glembotzki, and Ricardo Mollá. Particularly noteworthy was the world premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas’s Octet at the Basel Cathedral in September 2015, together with subsequent performances at the 2015 Donaueschingen Festival and 2016 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival—two leading festivals in the field of new music.

Along with expanding the repertoire with new compositions, adapting already-existing works is one of the Trombone Unit’s main objectives. This is due in no small part to the presence of Lars Karlin, the ideal arranger who, in his work for the ensemble, contributes to a new way of perceiving the trombone as a chamber music instrument.